1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to lounge chairs, and more particularly to a chair of this type having a contoured bed which conforms to the natural contours of a reclining occupant, the chair incorporating a circulating water trough system which generates sounds simulating those of a running brook, these sounds together with mist and negative ions arising from the trough creating a stress-relieving environment that envelops the reclining occupant.
2. Status of Prior Art
A standard lounge chair includes a long couch whose length exceeds the average height of an adult so that its occupants may recline on the couch. Many lounge chairs include a bed which is contoured to more or less conform to the natural contours of a reclining occupant. But the contour of the bed is not adjustable; hence it may in some instances deviate from that of the occupant to a degree causing discomfort.
It is also known in lounge chairs to provide an array of parallel leather or flexible plastic straps to form a bed to accommodate a reclining occupant. The bed is divided into a front thigh and leg section and a rear back and head section whose angle relative to the front section is adjustable.
It is far more relaxing and restful for an individual to recline in a lounge chair with his legs extending in a gentle curve and his head lying on a head rest than for that individual to be seated on a conventional chair with his head unsupported and with his legs dangling from the seat. But however comfortable and relaxing the lounge chair, it does not isolate the reclining occupant from a disturbing and stress-inducing environment. In our industrial society, many individuals are subjected to high-level stress as a result of ambient noise or other factors to a degree that may impair their well being.
Thus in the case of environmental noise which acts to induce stress, it is known to mask such noise by means of a white-noise generator that produces random noises whose frequencies are dispersed throughout a broad sonic range. White noise is analogous to white light composed of all of the colors in the visible light spectrum. However, white noise does not positively act to relieve stress, but serves only to mask noises which induce stress.
The sounds having the greatest lulling effect and which act to relieve stress are usually those existing in nature. No sounds are more soothing than the sounds of a light rain heard while lying comfortably in bed, or the sounds of a gently running brook as heard while resting on the bank of the brook. While it is possible to record such sounds and to play them back, a recording of water-related sounds is inherently repetitive in nature and lacks other attributes associated with water activity.
It is not sound alone that determines whether the environmental setting of a lounge chair acts to relieve the occupant of the chair of stress, for the ambient atmosphere also plays a role in this regard.
Thus it is now the practice in many homes and buildings to seal its windows and to establish a controlled atmosphere within the interior that is almost fully isolated from an impure exterior atmosphere. To this end, use is made of an air conditioning system that recirculates the air within the interior, and in the process of doing so filters out particulate contaminants while heating or cooling the flowing air to maintain it at a comfortable, even level.
The typical air conditioning system, when heating the air flowing therethrough, will at the same time lower its humidity, so that the air in the building is dry. Also, this system, because of filtration and other factors, acts to rob the flowing air of negative ions. Hence the occupants of the building or residence are subjected to an atmosphere, though clean as compared to the exterior atmosphere, is both dry and stale and devoid of negative ions. As a consequence, these occupants, for reasons they cannot explain, often suffer from tension headaches which impair their ability to carry out their normal activity.
Yet the reason air gains freshness after a rain storm is because the resultant air turbulence acts to release negative ions into the atmosphere, the air also then being rendered moist. Even greater bursts of negative ions are produced by lightning flashes which ionize the air.
To raise the humidity of the ambient air in an occupied room, it is known to provide electrically-powered humidifiers for this purpose. And to replenish the loss of negative ions, it is known to provide electrostatic negative ion generators.
However, while it would be desirable to subject the reclining occupant of a lounge chair to lulling sounds, negative ions and a moist atmosphere so as to place him in an environment conducive to relaxation and the reduction of psychic stress, the means heretofore available for this purpose are inappropriate to the usual setting for a lounge chair.
Thus if the lounge chair is situated in a well-appointed living room or bedroom, it would interfere with this setting to also place in this room not only an electrically operated player continuously playing back a tape recording of the sounds of a running brook, but also a negative-ion electrostatic generator discharging negative ions into the room atmosphere and an electrically-powered humidifier to raise the moisture content of the room.
Where magnetic fields, such as those produced by operating electric motors and electromagnetic loudspeakers, exist in a region in which a bed or chair is placed, these fields attract negative ions in the atmosphere and thereby deplete this region of ions. Hence the placement of a negative-ion generator in this region may not result in an adequate supply of negative ions in the atmosphere.
Attempts have heretofore been made to place a chair or bed in an environment which stimulates, relaxes or otherwise treats the occupant of the chair or bed. Thus in the Adams patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,250, there is disclosed a lounge chair enclosed within a housing subjecting the occupant of the chair to a controlled environment, means being provided to vibrate the occupant of the chair and to produce light and sound effects to relax or stimulate the occupant.
In the baby bed disclosed in the Cuervo patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,797, an electronic sound system is provided to create the sounds of wind motion to soothe the infant occupying the bed.
Hellig, U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,829, shows a chair provided with sense stimulators including odor, sound and vibration generators.
Inasmuch as the present invention provides a lounge chair that incorporates a recirculating water system moisturizing the air and produces lulling sounds as well as negative ions, the following patents are of background interest. The Cox patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,502, discloses a lounge chair provided with a sump pump unit that feeds water into a spray head to spray cooling water on the occupant of the chair. A similar arrangement is shown in the Manning patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,525, but in this patent what is sprayed is a mist of water and a suntan lotion.